Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011)

Study Information

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010-11 (ECLS-K:2011)
is sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the Institute
of Education Sciences (IES) of the U.S. Department of Education. In addition, the
study benefits from its partnership with and sponsorship by several additional federal agencies. The study is also endorsed by
many professional organizations in the area of education.

Broad in its scope and coverage of child development, early learning, and school
progress, the ECLS-K:2011 draws together information from multiple sources to provide
rich data on children's early school experiences beginning with kindergarten and
following children through fifth grade.

The ECLS-K:2011 provides descriptive information on children's status at entry to
school, their transition into school, and their progression through the elementary
grades.

The longitudinal nature of the ECLS-K:2011 data enables researchers to study how
a wide range of family, school, community, and individual factors are associated
with school performance over time.

Who

The children in the ECLS-K:2011 comprise a nationally representative sample selected
from both public and private schools attending both full-day and part-day kindergarten
in 2010-11. The children came from diverse socioeconomic and racial/ethnic backgrounds,
and the sample includes both children in kindergarten for the first time and kindergarten
repeaters. Also participating in the study were the children's parents, teachers,
schools, and before- and after-school care providers. The ECLS-K:2011 is a voluntary
study; no one selected for the study was required to respond to the questionnaires
or to participate in the assessments. The information participants chose to provide
was and will be kept private. All responses that relate to or describe identifiable
characteristics of individuals are used only for statistical purposes and may not
be disclosed, or used, in identifiable form for any other purpose, unless compelled
by law.

When

The ECLS-K:2011 is a longitudinal study, with the same children followed from kindergarten
through the fifth grade. Information was collected in the fall and the spring of
kindergarten (2010-11), the fall and spring of first grade (2011-12), the fall and
spring of second grade (2012-13), the spring of third grade (2014), the spring of
fourth grade (2015), and the spring of fifth grade (2016). Note that although the
study refers to later rounds of data collection by the grade the majority of children
were expected to be in (that is, the modal grade for children who were in kindergarten
in the 2010–11 school year), children were included in subsequent data collections
regardless of their grade level. Field tests, pilot tests, and cognitive interviews
were conducted at various points in the life of the study to develop psychometrically
sound cognitive assessments and to gather information from teachers, school administrators,
and parents to inform the development of new survey items.

Where

The ECLS-K:2011 includes a nationally representative sample of children. Information
was collected from children, their families, their teachers, their schools, and
their before- and after-school care providers across the United States.

Why

The ECLS-K:2011 is designed to provide comprehensive and reliable data that can
be used to describe and to better understand children's development and experiences
in the elementary grades, and how children's early experiences relate to their later
development, learning, and experiences in school. The data collected over the years
allow researchers, policymakers, and educators to study how various student, home,
classroom, school, and community factors at various points in the child's life relate
to cognitive, social, and emotional development.

How

Trained field staff assessed children in their schools and collected information
from parents. The majority of parent interviews were conducted by telephone though
interviews were conducted in person for parents who did not have telephones, who
were difficult to contact by telephone, or who preferred an in-person interview.
Teachers and school administrators were contacted at their schools and asked to
complete hard-copy self-administered questionnaires. Before- and after-school care
providers were asked to complete hard-copy self-administered questionnaires in the
children's kindergarten year.